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A cry for justice in America
Imagine a world where the cry for justice rises coast to coast, perhaps echoing the last words of Eric Garner as he pleaded to the police who were harassing him "this stops today."
Christiane Amanpour has the story.
From witnessing World War II code-breaking to causing uproars at the House of Lords
By Madalena Araujo, CNN
Jean Campbell-Harris could never guess that she’d end up at Britain’s top secret code-breaking headquarters during the Second World War at the age of 18.
“The man who interviewed me to go to Bletchley, asked, first of all - do you speak French? Yes. Do you speak German? Yes. Speak Italian? Well you don’t have to learn Italian, all you do is add 'io' to the end of every word. And, you know, I was in,” the now 92-year-old Baroness Trumpington told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Thursday.
Trumpington worked as a cypher clerk at Bletchley Park’s naval intelligence department. She transcribed messages from German submarines for the code-breakers, the most important one being the British mathematician Alan Turing, who helped crack the Nazis Enigma code but committed suicide after being put on trial for his homosexuality.
His life is now being celebrated in The Imitation Game starring Benedict Cumberbatch, which the Baroness thought “was absolutely excellent.”
She does, however, “have one absolutely minor criticism that the girl who played the part of the girlfriend,” played by British actress Keira Knightley, “was far too pretty.”
NY Congressman Hakeem Jeffries: I ‘worry every day’ about what a ‘bad apple’ police officer could do to my son
Click here to watch the full interview.
By Mick Krever, CNN
U.S. House Member Hakeem Jeffries, a black congressman from Brooklyn, New York, told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Thursday that he views some “bad apple” police officers as a threat to his son.
“I’ve got to worry every day about what could happen to him – not just from the robbers, but from a bad apple on the police department.”
His remarks came a day after a grand jury in the New York City borough of Staten Island decided not to indict a police officer who used a banned choke hold on an unarmed black man, which resulted in his death.
“I was really struggling as a father as to what to say to my older son in particular about what this verdict, or failure to indict, means in terms of his everyday actions on the streets of New York. I was actually comforted by the fact that I called and he got home safely.”
Jeffries called the decision a “stunning miscarriage of justice.”
“In many ways it’s a stain on the credibility of American democracy.”
“The overwhelming majority of New York City police officers are to be commended for the great work that they’ve done in partnership with the community in reducing crime.”
“But there are bad apples on the police force, and when you unleash them without consequence you see the type of tragedy that results.”
Israeli government in a state of ‘collapse,’ says former U.S. Middle East peace envoy
By Madalena Araujo, CNN
Former U.S. Middle East peace envoy Martin Indyk told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Wednesday that the Israeli government has entered a state of “collapse.”
On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired two key ministers of his coalition cabinet and announced that he would call for parliament to be dissolved, paving the way for new elections.
“They [the government] started to come apart over the peace negotiations last year. But since then, with the war in Gaza and then the increased conflict in Jerusalem, there's been divergent responses to all of this, which has just created this, I think collapse is the best word for it, in the ability of the government to function,” Indyk, who is now Vice President and Director of the Foreign Policy program at Brookings Institution, said.
“There is also a sense that this government wasn't able to function effectively, combined with right-wing parties and the center parties in this coalition were coming apart.”
Also at the heart of the rift is a divisive nationhood bill backed by right-wing members of the cabinet as well as Netanyahu, which was designed to give Arab Israelis individual rights, but not the “national” rights Jewish Israelis would have.
Beginning of a ‘tough period’ for Pope Francis
By Madalena Araujo, CNN
Pope Francis faces a tough road ahead, a veteran Vatican watcher told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in an interview that aired Wednesday.
“It’s a very tough period that is beginning for him, because of course people [are] enthusiastic about him. I mean the believers but also non-believers are very interested in what he’s saying. But within the Church, there is a tough group of conservative of bishops and priests and cardinals, and also very traditionalist bishops and cardinals who are practically against the Pope, who are working against the Pope,” Marco Politi said.
The growing opposition the Pope is encountering within his own Church is mainly down to his attempts to reform it since he took office in March 2013.
“They don’t like what he wanted to do with the synod about family, to give new possibilities to remarried and divorced people to get the communion, or to have a new look on the homosexual union.”
Politi’s latest book "Francis Among the Wolves” looks into this resistance.
Hong Kong protests may not stay in the streets, but “like a bad penny, I'll keep turning up”
By Mick Krever, CNN
While the street protests in Hong Kong may need to end, democracy advocates in Hong Kong have put themselves on the map and will continue their fight, Emily Lau, Chairwoman of the Hong Kong Democratic Party told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Wednesday.
The protesters “can't stay in the streets all the time. But we are not going to go away. Like a bad penny, I'll keep turning up. Many of us will keep turning up. So there is no way Beijing can just shut us out.”
Leaders of the Occupy Central movement turned themselves into the police Wednesday, urging protesters to end the months-long occupation of downtown Hong Kong; they insisted that their push for democratic autonomy from China would continue.
“This is the beginning of the end of this phase,” Lau said. “They are sending out a signal to Hong Kong, particularly to the protesters, that maybe it's time to call this part of the movement to a close.”
To free 36 million modern slaves, ‘hit it at all levels,’ says Head of the Church of England
By Madalena Araujo, CNN
Governments, businesses, and NGOs all need to play a role in the fight against modern slavery, Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury and Head of the Church of England, told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Tuesday.
“You have to hit it at all levels. There needs to be government involvement; we’ve seen the French and British governments are leading the way with anti-slavery laws, which are going to have an impact. They change the culture, they also give the police powers to deal with things. There’s a hard edge to dealing with this, it’s a policing matter.”
Welby’s comments followed a landmark event at the Vatican where, for the first time, leaders of the world’s major faiths gathered together to sign a joint declaration to end modern slavery by 2020.
The panel, which Amanpour MCed, included Pope Francis, the Archbishop of Canterbury as well as leaders of Buddhism, Judaism, Hinduism, and Shiite and Sunni Islam.
Besides government involvement, Welby explained, modern slavery’s “business edge” needs to be tackled.
Pope: Modern slavery becoming worse
Pope Francis on Tuesday said that modern-day slavery is a "crime against humanity" and is "unfortunately become worse and worse every day."
"This takes place in hiding," he said through an interpreter, "behind closed doors, in private homes, in the streets, in the cars, in factories, in the fields, in fishing boats, and in so many other places. This takes place both in cities and in villages – in villages of the richest and the poorest nations on earth."
His remarks came as part of a panel of faith leaders, MCed by CNN's Christiane Amanpour, who have signed a joint declaration to end modern-day slavery, hosted by the Global Freedom Network at The Vatican.
You can watch Pope Francis' full remarks here.
CNN is joining the fight to end modern-day slavery by shining a spotlight on the horrors of modern-day slavery, amplifying the voices of the victims, highlighting success stories and helping unravel the complicated tangle of criminal enterprises trading in human life. Find out more about the CNN Freedom Project here.
Hong Kong MP praises students’ cause, but criticizes tactics
By Madalena Araujo, CNN
The Chairwoman of Hong Kong's Democratic Party urged pro-democracy protesters on Monday to “exercise maximum restraint” following hours of violent clashes with the police as they tried to encircle government headquarters.
“I think people are getting frustrated because we do not get any response from Beijing and from the Hong Kong government. But the students want to escalate the action and their confrontation with the police, and [this is] resulting in police brutality,” Emily Lau told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour.
“But I hope the people will exercise maximum restraint. We want to conduct the struggle in a peaceful and non-violent way."
"I think they are beginning to realize that [if] you keep escalating the action; you keep having confrontation with the police, you will lose the support of the Hong Kong people and the international community.”
The renewed violence came after the student leaders’ call for an escalation of their civil disobedience actions, a move that marked a shift in the so-far largely peaceful “Umbrella Revolution.”
‘Israel is democratic towards Jews and Jewish towards Arabs,’ says Arab-Israeli MP
By Mick Krever, CNN
With a controversial nationhood bill on hold and the governing coalition wobbling, a prominent Arab-Israeli politician decried what he described as “inflammatory declarations and bills” aimed at gaining right-wing votes.
“There are two or three pyromaniacs in the Israeli cabinet,” Ahmad Tibi told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Tuesday.
“The nationality bill is totally proof of what I said during the last decades: that in Israel, Israel is democratic towards Jews and Jewish towards Arabs.”
A proposed bill, backed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, passed a hurdle when it was approved by Israel’s cabinet during a testy meeting last week.
It would enshrine Jewish teachings as the basis of the Israeli legal system and would give Arab Israelis individual rights, but not the “national” rights Jewish Israelis would have.
“Jewish and democratic, the definition of the State of Israel for the last thirty years, is an oxymoron,” Tibi said. “You cannot be democratic, believing in equality between all citizens, and define yourself as an ethnic definition, ‘Jewish.’”
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